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The GST Council has recommended reducing the time limit for acknowledging refund applications from 15 days to 10 days. If the proposal takes effect, an application would be treated as acknowledged if the proper officer issues neither an acknowledgement nor a deficiency memo within 10 days. This is not a promise that the refund itself will be paid within 10 days: the CBIC-hosted refund rules still show a 15-day period, and the recommendation requires the relevant legal changes to take effect.
What the GST Council recommended
At its 57th meeting, the GST Council recommended amendments to section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 and the relevant CGST Rules as part of a two-phase move toward system-based refund processing. The Press Information Bureau’s official summary of the Council’s recommendations describes separate measures for acknowledgements and refund sanctions.
Phase 1: shorter acknowledgement period and automated sanctions
- The acknowledgement or deficiency-memo period would fall from 15 days to 10 days. If neither document is issued within 10 days, the application would be deemed acknowledged.
- Excess balances in an electronic cash ledger would be eligible for full refund sanction automatically by the system.
- For zero-rated supplies and inverted duty structure claims, the system would provisionally sanction 90% of the claimed amount without officer intervention, based on system identification and risk evaluation.
Phase 2: system acknowledgement and further automation
After system verification, acknowledgement would be automated. For acknowledged zero-rated-supply claims, the system would sanction the full refund after adjusting any pending dues and applying system-based risk identification and evaluation.
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The Council also recommended changing FORM GST RFD-01 so that applicants provide information in system-readable form, dispensing with scanned-document uploads for zero-rated-supply and inverted-duty-structure claims. Other recommendations address the maximum turnover value used in calculating refunds for zero-rated goods and a combined ₹1,000 refund threshold across CGST, SGST/UTGST and IGST.
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Is the 10-day deadline in force now?
The Council’s announcement is a recommendation, not confirmation that the amended deadline has commenced. The CBIC-hosted refund rules currently state that, for applications other than claims from the electronic cash ledger, the proper officer has 15 days to scrutinize an application and issue an acknowledgement where it is complete. The rules page therefore does not yet reflect the proposed 10-day period. Do not assume the shorter period applies until the relevant legal changes take effect.
What acknowledgement means—and what it does not
Acknowledgement is a procedural step confirming that a refund application has been received as complete for processing. A deficiency memo instead identifies problems that need attention. The proposed deemed-acknowledgement rule would address what happens when neither document is issued within the proposed period; it would not by itself establish that the claim is eligible or guarantee payment by that date.
The Council described sanction measures separately: automatic full sanction for excess electronic cash-ledger balances in Phase 1; a risk-based 90% provisional sanction for eligible zero-rated and inverted-duty claims in Phase 1; and, in Phase 2, full sanction for eligible zero-rated claims after verification, adjustment of pending dues and risk evaluation.
Who may be affected
The recommendations concern taxpayers seeking refunds for excess electronic cash-ledger balances, zero-rated supplies or inverted duty structure. Exporters are an example of businesses with zero-rated supplies; businesses whose input tax rate exceeds the rate on their output supplies may have inverted-duty-structure claims.
Moneycontrol’s October 9, 2026 report says the measures may particularly help exporters and businesses operating under an inverted duty structure. It reports that 65% of refund claims relate to exports or inverted rates and 19% to cash-ledger balances; those figures are attributed to Moneycontrol, not stated in the government release. The report also says the 57th Council meeting approved process reforms on October 8, 2026, describing them as part of the second phase of GST 2.0.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How refund applications are filed
Under the CBIC-hosted rules, applicants generally file electronically through the Common Portal using FORM GST RFD-01. The proposed acknowledgement change concerns the time after filing; it does not replace the application process or the separate scrutiny and sanction steps.
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